The Muggle Magic of Jazz
by The Princess Maker
Summary: As Harry grapples with his destiny, he meets a new acquaintance who has some insight into what he's feeling. Takes place during the book but has bits of the movie too and is expanded from an essay I wrote on both books once. WARNING: Contains spoilers for those who haven't read either book!
1. Admire, Not Idolize

**All rights are reserved to:**

 **Christopher Paul Curtis – author of** _ **Bud, Not Buddy**_

 **J.K. Rowling – author of the** _ **Harry Potter**_ **series**

 **I own only the plot (and some background OCs)!**

 **WARNING: Contains spoilers for those who haven't read either book!**

* * *

Chapter One: Admire, Not Idolize

 _So that's it. I have to die._ He thought as he lay on the dusty floor in Dumbledore's office. At last, though, there was a way to stop Voldemort for good.

But what seventeen-year-old truly wants to die? This was one of the thoughts Harry had as he sat up. There was something ELSE that was creeping up but – _Hmm?_ Out of the corner of his eye he spotted something he didn't notice – and didn't expect – to find here.

It was a gramophone. As Harry approached it, he was equally surprised to discover that there were records lined up beside it. He'd known that Dumbledore had loved music but finding this here was odd, even for him! Harry wasn't allowed much TV at the Dursleys but he'd seen enough to know what it was and had a vague idea of how to work it. Randomly he chose an album from the series, put it on, and cranked it up. Some high notes emanated from the speaker.

Though the music sounded upbeat Harry knew he couldn't stay there for the whole thing. He decided to leave it playing anyway, just in case...

"Hey, man, you're missin' the best of the song!" Harry had been walking away and jumped but didn't spy anyone else in the room. It was then that Harry realized the music had stopped but the record was still going. He slowly approached.

"Are you...in there?"

"Uhh...more or less," the voice - a male, Harry found - replied. "Think you could rewind this thing?" Harry started to crank the handle backward...and as he did, a ghost started to appear out of the gramophone's speaker! As it appeared and landed in the center of the room, he saw that it was a boy with dark skin and black hair and that the boy was about the same age as Harry when he had started at Hogwarts. And his face...

"Man, that was a _lonnnng_ time bein' in that thing...!" The boy ghost said as he stretched out.

"Sleepy LaBone?" Harry asked, confused. The boy turned and a smile immediately appeared on his face.

"That I am!...But that's just a stage name, my _real_ name is Bud. Bud Caldwell. Oh, don't worry - I know all about who _you_ are, Harry Potter," he added as Harry opened his mouth, "I've been told all about you. And judging by the way you seem now that you're outta that bowl you found somethin' in there you don't like, right?"

Harry found himself telling Bud about his journey since he returned at the end of term last year. He told about how Professor Snape was murdered for the Elder Wand and it is was Snape's memories he saw in "the bowl", and how he discovered that he must let Voldemort kill him in order for Voldemort to actually be defeated. Throughout the telling, Bud never interrupted and sometimes nodded.

"...and that's all of it, I guess."

"Dang, that's heavy..." There was silence for a moment until Bud asked "Bet it was a shock seein' your parents so young, huh...or is it because they weren't entirely the goody-two-shoes people have said they were?" Harry's head shot toward Bud in shock before realizing such a reaction would be a dead giveaway.

"Yeah..." Harry admitted, "but how did you know?"

"Because I've felt the exact same thing," Bud wandered over to the Pensive, "It was just me and my Momma growin' up. She moved like a tornado when she was upset about somethin' - everything was always fast around her, and we'd have the same conversations about the same things lots of times. She didn't talk about my father but she DID talk about her dad, who was a mean old guy."

"Momma died when I was six and I eventually found my grandfather...and let me tell you, I thought he was every bit as mean as Momma told me he was."

"But something changed?" Harry felt that's where Bud was leading him.

"Yeah, you see he didn't realize I was even alive - my Momma had run off with one of his drummers. My grandfather was a band leader, you see. When he found out she died..." Bud stopped and Harry understood what Bud's grandfather must've felt next.

"Did you...ever find your real father?"

"Eventually, yes." Bud's voice was almost flat but his tone didn't seem to give anything else away. "I was a father myself then and wasn't particularly keen on lookin' anymore for the man who abandoned me and Momma. HOWEVER," Bud's mood seemed to change like that, "I had the blessing to marry a VERY smart gal named Deza Malone, who pushed me to seek him out...and I'm glad she did. Because my father didn't realize Momma was pregnant with me - and I even met my three half-siblings."

"But why'd he leave in the first place? That would mean he'd have to start all over!"

"That's true, but I found out why. Remember how I said Momma moved every fast? Well, several years later, I find out those are things called 'manic episodes' - but those weren't known back then -"

"And let me guess," Harry continued, "he didn't know how to handle it, so he left."

"Yep, that's what happened!" Bud floated a little closer to Harry. "My father told me he didn't have the patience to deal with Momma, and he told me how much he regretted not trying to help. My grandfather wanted my mother to make something of herself but pushed her too hard. My point to telling you all this, Harry, is that nobody's THAT much of a goody-two-shoes."

"Thankfully, I've learned that people _can_ change - and that includes your principal as well."

Harry blinked. "Principal? You mean Headmaster Dumbledore?"

"Oh, right, sorry!" Bud face-palmed. "I'm sorry, I keep forgetting you guys do things a bit differently over here!"

"Wait, so...you're not a wizard?! Then how could you know Dumbledore? We have -"

"Laws against showing your true self to ordinary people? Don't worry. I'm well aware of _all_ of that, but there's an important reason why." Bud's manner and tone got the most serious Harry had seen.

"He saved my life."

* * *

 **Whoa, so how did Dumbledore save this Muggle's life? :O Find out in the next chapter: "Goodbye, My Friend"!  
**

 **Staaay tuned...**


	2. Goodbye, My Friend

**Hello, readers! Back to see the rest of the Muggle Bud's encounter with Dumbledore? Well, you're in luck!**

 **This chapter is mostly in flashback, thanks to Bud's control over the Pensive and making it act as a sort of TV screen (see below). Since it's never said exactly WHERE Dumbledore and Grindelwald have their duel, I took a few liberties with it.  
**

 **Do I need to re-warn everybody about spoilers? XD**

* * *

( _Bud glides over to the Pensive and with a wave of his hand, the water rises out and becomes something like a TV screen. We see Bud as a young man, in an Army uniform._ )

( _The time is mid-April, 1945. The place is somewhere in continental Europe, probably Germany. A down-looking Bud is walking along an empty street with only his sax case._ )

Chapter Two: Goodbye, My Friend

 _Shortly before this, news had come out about certain war crimes. However, that wasn't all that got me down. When I signed up to go an' fight, they also said I could lead a band if I wanted to - being the grandson of a Big Band group and all. But I shoulda realized that, no matter how talented I was or how well I fought..._

"I wouldn't be completely accepted. On account of my color." Bud's tone seemed passive but Harry could detect a note of sadness.

 _I had begun to question everything - what I was doing there, what my life would be like goin' home, what I was even fighting for! All of it seemed like it would never be good enough and I had grown mighty angsty - I think that's the term nowadays when you're feelin' pretty down and out about yourself._

Harry watched the younger Bud pause on the dirt road when a sharp crack and _boom!_ echoed in the distance. "Was this-?" he started to ask.

"Yep, this is when I first meet ol' Al," Harry watched as Bud started scanning the sky.

 _I heard this explosion off in the distance which scared me, because the air-raid siren wasn't goin' off, even though there looked like explosions were goin' off everywhere, so I ran for cover as fast I could. I wanted to take cover in an old stone church but saw a redish flash above it and dove down the grassy hill beside the road. And I'm glad I did too-  
_

Harry watched the vision of Bud taking cover and began hearing what sounded like voices in the distance. He couldn't make out any words and evidently neither could the younger Bud as he started crawling out of the ditch and towards the old buildings ahead. As Bud made his way in, Harry (and the younger Bud too) starting hearing voices but the words couldn't be made out. Harry thought he heard something along the lines of _please, don't do this_.

 _Now I was confused and I carefully started makin' my way back OUT, when I heard something hitting the roof. I managed to gather enough courage to go outside all the way and that's when I saw them..._

The scene paused and Bud turned to face Harry. "I saw things then that I never would've believed in. Two guys on the roof, flyin', and shootin' fireballs - or at least what I thought were fireballs. It was difficult to follow their conversation because I didn't recognize half the words they were usin' but I got the gist of it: The guy with the whiter hair wanted to rule over another group of people and the OTHER guy was trying to get him to see how wrong it was and eventually that guy got thrown into part of the building and he didn't get up."

"I knew I had to do _something_ , otherwise he'd get splatted or blown up or set on fire or somethin'." Bud waved and the scene started moving again. "So I yelled-"

 _"HEY SPIKY!" (Grindelwald tottered slightly on the roof, and turned to look down at Bud) "I got a bone to pick with you!" An angry Bud pointed up at him..._

"If you're expectin' something heroic-sounding you're out of luck. The only reason I didn't want to pause was because I was trying to keep from wetting myself." Bud blushed.

"I can imagine," Harry sympathized. "What happened next?"

 _He...LEVITATED down and landed a few feet away. He asked me what I was thinking and if_ I _of all 'Muggles' was gonna be the one brave (or stupid) enough to step forward and challenge him. Then he asked me how much I'd heard._

 _"From what I've heard, it doesn't sound like you want us un-magicians to be on the same footing as the rest of you. Well, I've got news for you, pal: Just because you can shoot off fancy fireworks doesn't make you less of a jerk!"_

 _He said a word I couldn't pronounce and then I felt myself thrown against another of the buildings and before I could get up I felt like somethin' tied me up and pulled me closer to that guy. (Believe me, there wasn't much to look at.)  
_

 _"So," he says with an_ incredibly _ugly smirk, "you think you can stop me by yelling at me? You don't even have a gun on you." He then threw me down the road some ways, which must've broke off the spell because I found I could move by my own power again. "What do you possibly have that can defeat me?"  
_

 _The truth is - well, I learned later on - that I DIDN'T have anything that could really go against him or anybody like him; however, I saw old 'Al on the roof movin' and THEN I realized I did have something._

"I had my sax!" Bud waved his arms dramatically and his saxophone appeared around his neck and he played a note. When Harry reacted with stunned silence, Bud explained.

"Before the war broke out, most jazz music was seen as 'degenerate art' 'cause it played by people like me ( **1** ). I figured this bozo was the same way so I got out my sax and I played the most bombastic notes I could think of at the moment...and basically more or less make an idiot of myself." Harry watched - and laughed - as Bud made an idiot of himself marching around and intentionally playing off-key.

 _Must've confused him because he asks "What ARE you doing?" and then I hear another word I couldn't pronounce comin' from up on the roof and Spiky goes down to his knees, lookin' tied up like he did to me. I look behind him and old 'Al is off the roof and approaching us and I was worried because I didn't know what HE was gonna do, but he grabs my arm and starts leading me away, lookin' worried. He told me never to mention this to_ anyone _and to get out of the area as fast as I could. I didn't stick around to argue._

The scene disappeared, the memory over. Bud was quiet for a bit before turning to face Harry. "Early sixties, I get a letter in the dead of night - by OWL, of all things! - telling me to go to this specific area. 'The guy who told me to run' wanted to meet me, in person, and explain what I saw that day. I'll admit I was scared: I've put that outta my head and tried to focus on my family but...curiosity got the better of me and I told Deza I was meetin' an old war buddy of mine."

"You actually MET Dumbledore?"

"Yep!" Bud floated over to the desk and sat on it. "And we talked about a lot of things, him and I. The most important thing to me was that I got to thank him for saving my life. You see, Harry, I started giving up on whether people of different races could live as equals but when I heard your principal admonish his former friend for essentially becoming dictatorial...well, that reignited my hope - even if it was over magical abilities."

"I still don't understand why he didn't make this more... _apparent_ beforehand, all he implied was that it COULD be used for evil."

"But he DID try, Harry, that's just the point," Bud shook his head sadly and the Pensive started showing scenes of Dumbledore making various attempts for Muggle treatment. "Al tried to convince other wizards that Muggles were just as important as they are, but he had to do real subtly or else they'd know something's up."

"Meaning you?"

Bud nodded. "He didn't erase my memory, he told me I didn't deserve it because I helped him. And he never told anyone else either and sent me letters real secretly. We even used code names - if I agreed to be called 'Buddy' (which my Momma told me to never let anyone call me), I could him Al, which he apparently hated being called." ( **2** )

"That was the only time I ever met him in person, I never saw him again. So I continued my life, opening a jazz bar in New Orleans, raising three sons, and having several grandchildren before having a heart attack while eating at my own bar. About a year around this same time, he summoned me here and told me what was going to happen, what he _thought_ might happen, and asked me to protect the students, if I could. I agreed and he charmed me to stay hidden in that gramophone until..."

Bud shrugged his arms. "Here we are. And that's the secret. Now, all that remains is...what you're going to do with it, since you're the only person who knows."

"My hour is almost up..." Harry looked at the ground for a moment. "I'm going to go to Voldemort."

"Ha!" Bud clapped his hands together. "I knew you wouldn't run out! Just be sure you do so before Rule #328 kicks in."

Harry paused putting on the Invisibility Cloak. "Uh, what's that?"

"One of my rules for making your life funner and yourself a better liar. Rule #328 is when you make a plan you better go ahead and do it before you talk yourself OUT of it." For the first time, Harry genuinely laughed. ( **3** )

"I don't think there's gonna be any talking my way out of this one. What will you do now?"

"If it's all okay with you, I'm gonna stay here and watch over everyone. Feel bad because I couldn't help you fight before." Bud floated closer to Harry and extended his hand.

"And if we meet again, I'll teach you how to play a mean sax."

"Thank you, Bud," Harry 'shook' his hand and wandered to the door, "I'll shut this so no one will come wandering in." His head was only visible body part but he turned back to Bud. "Goodbye." Bud waved back as Harry's head disappeared and the door shut behind him.

Bud was glad Harry left when he did, because Bud wasn't able to contain the two tears rolling down his face. "God bless you, Harry Potter." he whispered before floating upward and disappearing.

( _Moments later, Harry was confronting Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest. And as he focused his last memory on Ginny, he thought he heard romantic jazz playing. Somewhere..._ )

* * *

 **Happy Holidays! Here is one of my gifts (that took WAY too long to get here!)**

 **#1: The Nazis termed most jazz 'degenerate music' because most of it was played by African-Americans. See Wikipedia for more!**

 **#2: From the book _Bud, Not Buddy_ , Bud is talking about his Momma and how one of her most repeated conversations was about his name.**

 **#3: Also from _Bud, Not Buddy_ , and yes, the rule is exactly that!**

 **The title of this chapter comes from a repeated lyric in the Pentatonix song "Coldest Winter". I looked up a lyric video for it and all the comments were about Snape and Lily :O The lyric goes _Goodbye, my friend, will I ever love again?_ Kinda down, but I thought it would given the friendship between Bud and Dumbledore and now, with Bud and Harry.**

 **Tune in to see another chapter, this time with Dumbledore, and be sure to on the lookout for a story with the _Transformers_!**

 **Staaaay tuned...**


	3. How BUD Saved DUMBLEDORE

**I feel like this chapter kinda got away from me...I've been having some issues going on at home relating to school and where I want my life to go and all that.  
**

 **But anyway, we last left off on Harry letting Voldemort kill him and learning of Bud's existence. What is his headmaster's side of the story? Let's see!**

* * *

Chapter Three: How BUD Saved DUMBLEDORE

Harry had always wondered whether there was an afterlife. If his parents were there, were they upset at the treatment he received from the Dursleys? When he got to Hogwarts and discovered that ghosts did in fact exist, he started wondering if only certain people were allowed to come back as ghosts.

In all his musings about whether or not there was an afterlife, he never thought about what it might actually _look_ like. King's Cross station wasn't exactly what jumped out at him first when imagining this but ultimately it didn't matter. All Harry wanted was some answers and Dumbledore was there to provide them.

They sat on a bench talking for an unknown amount of time. One of the revelations that surprised Harry the most was that his old headmaster had put off his famous duel with Grindelwald over the fear that Dumbledore himself might have killed his own sister during the three-way duel that kicked off Grindelwald's crimes against Muggles.

For a while (as far as Harry could tell, it was difficult to tell time here), they sat in silence until Dumbledore sighed. "But I did something else during my famous duel..."

"You met Bud?" Harry ventured and that made Dumbledore perk up a bit. "Oh, you were able to meet him? That's great, Harry."

"He said you saved his life."

Dumbledore had turned his face away but he turned back with a confused look on his face. "What?"

Harry repeated himself. Dumbledore's eyes rolled back and forth as he was thinking and finally he said "Oh, no, no, Harry, you got that all wrong. You see, _I_ didn't save _his_ life - he saved _mine_."

Now it was Harry's turn to look confused. "But how? Bud couldn't use magic and he didn't even have anything to defend himself with, all he had was his saxophone!"

"Yes, this is true...He really is too modest..." There was a pause. Dumbledore rubbed his temples a little before facing Harry again.

"Harry, I know I may quote-unquote "talk a good game", as children say nowadays. But the truth is, I really did not care much for what happened either way back then."

Seeing Harry was still lost, he continued.

"As I've said I never knew which one of us killed my sister, but I _also_ didn't know just how I was gonna fight Grindelwald even if I did. Remember we WERE friends...once. Plus, I wondered whether or not he would say something and cause others to start questioning me and my relationship with him. All that combined depressed me enough to -" he shrugged. "Not care about whether or not I lived or died during this duel."

"And Bud changed that?" Dumbledore smiled.

 _Yes, he did. You see, I was thrown onto the roof and stayed down even though I wasn't very injured. I had a little bit of pride left and I wasn't going to give him the last look on my face right before he killed me. But then I heard someone yell 'HEY SPIKEY!' which I knew would get attention. Grindelwald always_ hated _references to his hair._

"I looked up and saw Bud standing there..." Dumbledore trailed off.

"That was all it took?"

Dumbledore nodded and looked down at his feet. "I cannot explain it but yes, his presence brought me back to reality."

 _I was all prepared to be killed and dang anything else that would come after, but...he showed up and snapped me out of my reverie. A total stranger, and a defenseless Muggle at that! He didn't even have a gun..._

"He made me realize that I still had something to fight for, a way to correct my mistakes (in a way). Plus, he was innocent in the whole conflict as were other Muggles who got caught up in the mess. When he saved my life I sent him, somewhat haphazardly, away from the scene so he wouldn't have his memory wiped. Because he saved me, I felt he did not deserve it."

"Then you met up later on."

"Oh, yes, we did. I was worried you did not hear that part. After the dust settled and the Wizarding World returned to normal - more or less - I sent him a letter telling him I wanted to meet him. I didn't suspect he'd go for it but he did and we met in an area of a nearby swamp - don't worry, I enchanted the place a bit so we could talk in peace...and also comfort." Dumbledore's face grimaced, remembering the discomfort.

"What did you talk about?"

"Oh, many things. Our lives, mostly. It was rather slow, however, since Bud never knew magic was real and he wanted to know all about it and this was the first time I talked to a Muggle, I mean _really_ talked to a Muggle, without magic or hiding or worse, the lip service I convinced myself of prior to my meeting him. Which I told him all about too. So Skeeter left out the only person that knew about everything prior to now, oddly enough!"

 _And when we were both done with our stories and questions we sat in silence for awhile. It was rather late and I wanted Bud to get some rest but at the same time...We both had that sense that this would be the last time we'd see one other or even another person like each other again or at least we would not while we were alive._

 _But we had to, so we bid farewell. That was the first - and last - time I met him face-to-face._

Harry absorbed all this and from the conversations he had with Bud, everything his headmaster said certainly sounded like things Bud would say. "Do you think one day Muggles and wizards could live together?"

"Yes, Harry, I do. My experiences have taught me that both of us, Muggle and wizard, are the same - one can just use magic."

"Why did you conceal him in your gramophone? Actually, WHEN did you hide him?"

"Shortly before we left to find Slytherin's locket. I called his spirit (I knew he had passed years before) to my office." Dumbledore paused a moment. "I was worried you might have trouble coming to grips with what you had to do, letting Voldemort kill you. I also didn't want to leave the other students empty-handed."

 _I explained about Voldemort and what he was doing and what I think might happen and asked him to stay here and protect the students in any way he could..._

"Didn't even finish before he said he'd do it. No worries, I put a limit on the enchantment. If you had not found him he would've been free to go in about a month or so. Plus, I told him if he was ever found and expelled from the gramophone by anybody other than you, I said he could hide in the Chamber of Secrets because I didn't think anyone would look there. And that's the whole story. If you choose to go back, you are the one to decide what to do with it."

There were other things Harry asked about before turning around and going back but as he was leaving, he remembered something else.

"Professor, did you say anything to Bud after your only encounter?"

Dumbledore smiled. "Yes, I told him that I didn't know any Muggles personally but even if I met and became friends with a thousand different Muggles, Bud Caldwell would still be my best friend."

 _His response? 'And you would be my best wizard friend too!'_

* * *

 **I know I said this got away from me, but I hope I was able to put out the friendship vibes! :D**

 **This story is now In-Progress again and we only have TWO CHAPTERS TO GO! :O**

 **Now that we've seen how these two met, we'll find out what happens to Bud nineteen years later!**

 **Staaaay tuned...**


	4. That's All

**Here is our final chapter, taking place during the epilogue of the** _ **Harry Potter**_ **series!**

 **If you remember, Dumbledore told Harry that it's up to him to decide what to do with the truth of Dumbledore's friendship with Bud. What has Bud been up to in the meantime? Let's find out!**

* * *

( _At King's Cross Station, a now grown-up Harry is on his knees talking to his son about the possibility of being sorted into Slytherin…._ )

Chapter Four: That's All

"...then Slytherin House will have gained an excellent student, won't it?" As Harry comforted his middle son, he thought about how he was scared of being sorted into Slytherin until he learned that the House you're assigned to didn't determine who you are or what you became or make you better or worse than others. Muggles included.

Nineteen years had passed since that last final battle with Voldemort and his Death Eaters. During those years, Harry and his friends and classmates moved on with their lives. And now, some of them were sending their OWN children off to Hogwarts.

Harry's scar also had not pained him since then either.

"Dad!" Lily, his daughter, exclaimed suddenly, snapping Harry out of his thoughts. "Look, look! Isn't that him?!" She was pointing towards the rapidly departing train.

It took a second or two for Harry to figure out what she was pointing towards but then he heard something: the unmistakable notes of a nostalgic happy jazz tune. Jogging towards the end of the platform he noticed the small figure sitting on the roof of the train form into the child form of Bud Caldwell. Bud noticed Harry, stopped playing, and the two waved enthusiastically back at each other as the train rode out of sight.

"Honey, was that him?" Ginny asked as she caught up with him.

"Yes. It was. Sounds like Hogwarts has its own jazz musician!" _And it l_ _ooks like my hunch was correct_ was what Harry was thinking.

As Harry and his friends recovered from that final battle so long ago, he relayed discovering Bud's spirit in the gramophone and how he and Dumbledore met. He half-expected Bud to show up and interrupt him during the conversation but Bud never did and Harry assumed that since his job was done, Bud had returned to the afterlife. When Neville became a teacher at Hogwarts, he wrote to Harry with news of a "specter" matching Bud's description and though the teachers and other ghosts searched, they came up empty-handed.

When James began school, more descriptions started to emerge: the specter would usually appear to one student who was having a problem and they would talk for a while. However, when the student attempted to talk about him to the other ghosts, they would be told there was no ghost matching that here. According to James, the popular terms thrown around for this specter was 'The Children's Ghost' or 'The Protector of Children'.

To Harry, it certainly sounded like something Bud would do _._

 ** _At Hogwarts, hours later during the Welcoming Feast..._  
**

If you were in Albus's situation, you might have started wondering if you jinxed yourself by asking dad what would happen if you're chosen to be in Slytherin instead of the others. Albus probably wondered that too but at least he knew one other classmate. He just finished picking out what to eat when he realized there was something under his plate.

"Hm?" He picked at it.

"What's up?" asked Scorpius, who was sitting beside him.

"There's something under this plate..." Albus picked at it and, upon realizing it had a bit of tape on it, undid it and found it was an old record of some kind.

However, no sooner had he discovered this, the record rolled - by itself! - out of his hand, across the table, down the floor and all the way towards Dumbledore's old gramophone the teachers decided to leave up for room music and such. As the record begin its 'journey' students became aware of the sound and turned to watch. Placing itself in the gramophone, the needle starting rolling and a voice resonated throughout the hall.

"Evening, gang! Hope you're prepared for the year ahead! How about a little ditty to liven it up?" Then the music started up.

 _Now I'm gonna tell you a natural fact_

 _That some wizzes don't understand Muggles right and that's all_ _(That's All)_

 _Heey, that's all..._

 _You got to have more love, more understanding,_

 _every day of your lives and that's all..._

And as the students starting clapping along and some dancing and the teachers gave in too, Bud, unseen by everyone else, was standing by the door. He smiled at his handiwork and walked away from the hall. As he walked up the staircase to the headmaster's office with all the portraits he morphed into what he had looked like when he met Al. Bud smirked as he heard an off-key note on a saxophone.

"No, no, no!" Bud groaned as he spied the spirit of Dumbledore playing the sax.

"Playing this takes more air than I thought!"

"That's why I was made to practice _this_ first." Bud replied, handing him a recorder.

"Why do we still get winded even though we are no longer alive?" Dumbledore wondered, with a eyebrow raise towards Bud, who shrugged.

"Maybe it means that since human beings are different, we still have those within us?"

His friend laughed. "I would say so! When I'm through with this recorder, I expect you to start teaching me the sax!"

"Only if you'll teach me how to speak gobbly-gook!"

"It's _Goobledegook_ , and yes, I shall."

"Do you think one day us Muggles can come visit your magical places?"

"I believe so." Dumbledore looked at his recorder. "Perhaps if we share and learn one another's hobbies, like music, we would find there aren't THAT many differences between us after all."

"Mm-hmm." Bud nodded as the two friends faded away.

( _A disembodied recorder whistles. The other portraits started complaining._ )

"At least, we can try to."

* * *

 **And that's the end! That took a lot longer than I wanted...**

 **This story was originally a one-shot, then it became a two-shot, but I wanted to add Dumbledore's side too. And now, this! (Those who have read the seventh book will know where Harry's quote comes from!) Goobledegook is also one of the magical languages that Dumbledore is able to speak.**

 **The song Bud puts on is based off the song 'That's All', which has been sung by several artists including Sister Rosetta Tharpe. The band Alabama Shakes performed this song when Tharpe was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	5. BONUS: Best Friends Buddy and Al

**SURPRISE!**

 **Think of this as bonus content you receive when you pre-order or buy a store-exclusive!**

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BONUS: Best Friends Buddy and Al

( _Nighttime. A now middle-age Bud Caldwell is sneaking through a swamp, following what looks like large fireflies. As he goes past them they go out._ ) _  
_

( _Eventually, he comes upon a small hill._ )

"Caldwell? Buddy Caldwell?" Bud's head shot up, not only because of the mention of that name (which his Momma always warned him about) but also because of who spoke.

"I am Buddy as much as you are Al." The old bearded man stepped into view and for a moment the two just stared at each other.

"I was worried you wouldn't make it." Dumbledore spoke he motioned for Bud to sit down next to him.

"And I was worried I was seein' things once I saw that message..."

"You thought it was that it was my opponent, I take it?" Bud nodded. "Let's sit down then, we have a lot to discuss. Oh, uh, want some?" Dumbledore extended a box towards Bud.

"Are they jelly beans?"

"In a way. They're the Wizarding World equivalent, I suppose - Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, and they _do_ mean _every_ flavour."

"Which means...?"

"You could very well eat one that tastes like dog food or boogers, for that matter."

"Ew!" Bud made a grossed-out face.

"Don't worry, I've managed to remember what a few look like. Here, this one's chocolate." He gave it to Bud, who chewed it slowly.

"Never had a chocolate-flavored jelly bean before..."

"And I've never had a breakfast with coffee before, either."

"So...you actually come from England? This is what you really look like, not magically look like?"

Dumbledore blinked in surprise and his eyes twirled a little. "Noooo...That's the first I've ever heard anybody ask me that." He looked back at his companion and smiled.

"To answer your questions, yes, to both. I do come from England - lived there all my life - and though I _could_ change form if I wanted to, I cannot."

"Why?"

"Because, _technically_ ," he leaned in conspiratorially, "I'm not allowed to do so in front of Muggles."

"Is that...what I am?"

"Those living in this world who cannot do magic. Muggles, or No-Maj, they mean the same thing. And we _magicians_ \- though we use terms 'witch' and 'wizard' - live among you, hiding in plain sight."

Bud sniffed. "That other guy sure didn't seem to think too highly of us non-magical folks. Who was he, anyway?"

Dumbledore looked down and away from Bud, who was starting to worry he said too much. But he eventually faced Bud again. "That man who attacked you was Gellert Grindelwald. He wanted to change our laws and have us live openly with Muggles and our powers but, in turn, we would...subjugate them."

A strange feeling came over Bud. "It sounds like Grindelwald and you know each other outside of all that."

"We do, _did_." Dumbledore cleared his throat and sounded like he was about to get emotional. "It's rather complicated, only because you have never interacted with any of us, but...You saved my life back there. Only fair that you know the whole story."

"But you must understand," he rubbed his eyes, "I've never told ANY of this story to ANYONE, not any of my friends or...family."

Admittedly Bud was starting to get a tad unnerved - being the first person told the full story of _anything_ will do that to you! But his magical companion reached out and patted his shoulder to reassure him.

"This whole thing got started when I was a lot younger. I'm the eldest child out of two boys and one girl. This'll surprise you but when you're younger you are watched for signs of magic and if you're found to possess some, you are sent to a school to teach how to control it, among other subjects."

"Where are these schools?"

"Oh, all around the world! There's one here in America and I teach at Hogwarts, in Britain."

"But how could a child learn how to control it before then? Wouldn't they be seen?"

"They don't and that's what happened to us." Another sniff.

 _My little sister was caught by three boys doing magic and I'm sure it scared them. They tried to get her to duplicate it but she couldn't and..._

"She was never the same after that, never did learn how to control it."

"Couldn't the schools help her?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "Those who don't have a good grasp are often put away somewhere so they won't harm others, magical or not. And there's no way you can just NOT contain it either, that would be deadly."

Bud was shocked. "Was that what happened to your sister, was she...put away?" Al shook his head again. "No. It was far worse."

"After that incident my father used HIS magic and injured the boys, which WAS against our rules and he was sent to a magical prison called Azkaban - no, you DON'T want to know anything more about that place." He said as Buddy's expression turned anxious. "My father never said why he attacked those boys, to protect my sister."

 _Soon after we moved into a small village and I went off to school, eventually joined by my younger brother. Mother would watch my sister and shun contact from nearly everyone outside our house. Then, in one of my sister's uncontrolled bursts, our mother was killed._

"I'm sorry."

"It was an accident, but...I didn't care about that at the time. All *I* cared about was now I wasn't going to be able to do anything notable of any sort other than stay in the village and watch over my brother and sister." There was some noticeable bitterness in Al's voice. "However, Grindelwald moved in soon afterwards."

"We were so alike, me and him, it was actually quite startling. We - yes, _we_ \- wanted to change our world so we could live openly and not have to hide our powers anymore. Even if this meant some would have to be sacrificed along the way."

"Then you -" Buddy sat up straighter, "you were just like that guy!"

"Yes." Al looked at him with his face resting in his hand. Silence.

"What changed?" came the firm question.

"To get the movement started, the two of us were going to look for magic artifacts we felt for sure would bring us victory. However, my younger brother finally...brought me back to reality. One, because he felt it was dangerous what we were both doing and two, we would have to take my sister, who was in no condition to go anywhere."

 _It got ugly after that. Me, him, and Grindelwald ending up in a three-way duel - yes, we have dueling - and my sister tried to help but she -_

Al broke off suddenly and started to cry softly. Buddy put an arm around him and after a minute he continued. "He fled and I let him gather an army, while I hid. Away from the calls of action, the cries, because...I was afraid."

"Hey, there's no reason to be ashamed of that! I was so scared too -"

"Not that he would defeat me, although yes, that was also in the back of my mind." Al quickly cut in. "Bud, I don't know WHICH of us ended up...killing her -"

"And you were scared he would tell you?"

"Yes. Yes, I was. I am no different -"

"Of course you are! You've changed!" Bud shouted to Dumbledore's surprise. "We wouldn't be _sitting here_ if you hadn't!"

Al didn't say anything. "I wouldn't have believed all people could live together either if I hadn't seen you fight back."

"I'm just sorry you almost got strangled in the process."

"I slept with a sack on me when I was a kid."

"A SACK?"

Many other topics would come up between the two - for instance Bud wanted to know if witches really rode brooms (yes, but so do wizards) and Dumbledore wanted to know about the workings of music players (Bud didn't know much other than the very basic) and the like. Sometimes the two would laugh at how alike their respective worlds were.

Eventually, the two sat in silence, a feeling coming over them both.

"This is the only time I'll see you, isn't it?" Bud finally asked aloud.

"In this lifetime, I'm afraid." Dumbledore sighed. "I wish you could write back, but..."

"We'll be caught."

"Precisely."

The two stood up. "Do you think...there'll be a time where you guys CAN show your powers and not have to worry?"

"I do." Bud noted how definite Al's tone was in later years. "And this time, I aim to fight for it in the _right_ way. But you know what?"

"What?"

"I think that no matter how many friends I make, Muggle or Magical, I can say with certainty that Bud Caldwell is my very best friend."

"Really? 'Cause I was just thinking that about you, Al!"

The two laughed again, then they departed, each keeping their friendship close to their heart.

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 **THE (REAL!) END**


End file.
